4 Crucial Factors to Consider Before Buying a Franchise

The majority of the people working in offices are bored or fed up of their 9 to 5 routine and want to become their own boss rather than having someone else dictate terms to them.

The options people have in such a case are starting their own business or investing in a franchise business.

While most of the people think about this possibility for a moment or for a certain period of time and then get back to following their mundane daily schedule, there are some who really become serious and determined to get rid of their jobs and take on the challenge of starting a business from scratch or that of investing in a franchise and making it successful.

While both of these possibilities have their own risks and perks, starting a business from scratch would seem like a tall order for people especially for those who have no set plan or precise idea/knowledge about what kind of business they are going to undertake.

This opens the doors to franchise business, and if you are one of those looking to get into it, then here’s a thorough overview of the franchise business along with 4 important factors you should consider & evaluate before buying a particular franchise.

In case of the franchise business, you have a ready-made business model in place to operate, and you are provided with training, support and guidance from the franchisor.

Along with this perks, the further encouraging signs for potential franchise investors include the strong economic track record for franchises in the past few years.

All these things paint a rosy picture of the franchise business but as is the case with almost everything in life, there are potential risks as well that you need to be wary of before entering it.

These risks include a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration before investing in any particular franchise.

This is especially important as you are going to put in some serious money into starting this business venture.

Question yourself and contemplate

To start with, there are a few questions that you need to ask yourself before becoming a franchisee of a particular franchise.

This includes whether you are passionate about managing that type of business, whether the particular franchise business is in sync with your skills, your way of life and whether you will be actually happy and satisfied managing it day in, day out.

All this is extremely crucial as the concerned business will become a major part of your life, and will require you to invest significant mental and physical energy into it on a regular basis to become successful.

Evaluate the market you will be operating in

If you are in the affirmative about the above things, then you need to move on to thoroughly evaluating the trends of the market of your particular franchise.

You need to make sure that it is not overly saturated and there is substantial room for a franchise to prosper into.

Check if the franchise system is adaptive to change

After that, you need to check whether the franchise system of the particular franchise is adaptive to change.

This is especially critical as for franchise systems to be successful, they need to be highly adaptive to change.

For instance, let us have a look at the adaptation of Burger franchises in recent years.

Burgers, as is common knowledge, are a big part of the majority of people’s diet across the world with people often looking to treat themselves to an appetizing burger whenever they feel hungry.

In the past few years, there has been a rise in awareness among people about health-conscious foods, leading to many of them reducing their junk foods intake and resorting to healthy alternatives that provide ample nutrition.

Burger franchises had to adapt to this rise in health-conscious eating among people.

Burger franchises did this by reinventing their burgers, making them much more health-centric and sophisticated by including more and more unique & healthful ingredients and coming up with new healthy creations while doing away with some of the unhealthy ones.

Assess the recent track record of the franchise

After checking for an adaptive system, you need to also assess the recent track record of success for the concerned franchise you are looking to invest in.

Your franchise disclosure document will help you in doing that but it is always better to also have extensive conversations with a number of active franchises of the particular franchise.

If all things point in a positive direction and you don’t have any lingering doubts in your mind about the franchise, then it is time to sign on the dotted line and start a new challenging yet fulfilling phase of your life.

Here’s a brief overview of two of the rising franchise business industries in the U.S. that you could be interested in investing in.

Juice and Smoothie Bars Franchise

Smoothies and juice bars have seen a massive rise in popularity in the past few years with more and more people resorting to health-conscious eating.

This growing demand and popularity have led to a rise in the number of smoothie and juice bar franchises coming up in the U.S.

Coffee Franchise

Coffee has always been a popular and must-have drink among Americans’ but there has been particularly a great rise in popularity and consumption over the past decade as the majority of millennials have made coffee a daily part of their diet.

With the NCA National Coffee Drinking Trends 2018 reporting 64% of U.S. consumers to be drinking coffee daily and another NCA study showing millennials to be consuming 44 percent of coffee in the U.S., there is certainly a lot of room for potential franchise investors in the coffee franchise business despite there being coffee shops at almost every nook and corner in the U.S.

When it comes to recent trends in the industry, there has been a rise in espresso-based coffee drinks and the specialty coffee segment, which is the most speedily growing segment in the U.S. coffee industry.